Snowtown Wind Farm

Stage 2

In October 2013, the first power was exported from Snowtown Stage 2 with final commissioning in October 2014. The 270MW of installed capacity produces an average of 875GWh of electricity per year.

Project Details

Maximum Capacity

270 MW

Annual Output

875 GWh

Commissioned

2014

Location

Snowtown, South Australia

Investment

AU$400 million

Wind Turbine Type

Siemens 101 & 108, 3.0MW direct drive turbines

Turbine Numbers

10 x SWT101 & 80 x SWT108total of 90 turbines

Final planning approvals for Stage 2 of the Snowtown Wind Farm were secured in August 2012 to install 90 Siemens 3.0 MW turbines with an output of up to 270MW. The construction of Snowtown 2 was completed in June 2014.

Stage 2 is comprised of 10 Siemens SWT-101-3.0MW and 80 Siemens SWT-108-3.0MW turbines. Both turbines utilise permanent magnet generators and direct drive technology. The 10 SWT-101 turbines have a hub height of 80m and a blade length of 49m. The 80 SWT-108 turbines have a hub height of 80m and a blade length of 53m.

With the completion of Stage 2, the total output of the combined Snowtown Wind Farm is 370MW, making it the biggest wind farm in South Australia.

The annual output of the combined Snowtown Wind Farm is 1,232GWh of renewable energy. This is enough electricity to power over 200,000 South Australian homes and offset nearly one million tonnes of CO2 produced by thermal electricity generation every year. This CO2 reduction is the equivalent of removing around 225,000 cars from South Australia’s roads.

The combined Snowtown Wind Farm is the second largest, and one of the best performing wind farms in Australia.

“Snowtown Stage 2 was the first project in Australia to deploy the Siemens direct drive machines, a major leap forward in turbine technology.”

Location and Connection

The Stage 2 turbines are placed adjacent to the Stage 1 turbines on the Barunga Ranges in the north and in a new development area along the Hummocks Ranges to the south.

The Snowtown 2 development is separated into two north and south portions connected via an electrical and communications network which feeds back to an onsite substation located at Barunga Gap.

The electricity is connected into the national electricity network via a 28km of dedicated 275kV overhead transmission line running from the wind farm substation to new switching station 7km west of Blyth.